Educational lighting estimates
Headlight aim calculator
Auto Car Lighting Lab is a set of browser calculators for beam drop, lamp current, and a plain comparison of the watts you enter. The figures stay on your phone. They are geometry and electrical arithmetic, not a shop catalog and not a street-legal stamp.
Enter a lamp height or a wattage. The estimate returns a number, a unit, and one sentence about what that number means. Tap Example to fill a compact sedan at a 25 ft garage wall if you want to see the formula before you tape your own car. The last numbers stay in this browser. You can copy a link that opens the same fields.
Ten minutes in the garage
Check each step as you finish it. The marks stay in this browser. They are not uploaded.
Tools
Headlight aim / beam drop
Estimate drop or angle from lamp height and the distance to a wall.
Open the aim calculatorLamp current and fuse
Estimate amperes from watts and volts, then a suggested fuse using a stated rounding rule.
Open the current calculatorLED vs halogen draw
Compare two wattage sets you enter. Lumen fields stay optional.
Open the comparisonMulti-lamp current budget
Add two to six circuits and see the total amperes plus spare capacity.
Open the budget calculatorLight at a distance
A point-source inverse-square model. It is not reflector photometry.
Open the distance modelWattage from volts and amps
The inverse of the current tool: P = V × I from the numbers you enter.
Open the wattage calculatorWall-chart aim helper
The same aiming geometry with fields for the cutoff line on the wall.
Open the wall-chart helperGuides
Aiming headlights
What a wall-chart estimate can show, and what it cannot replace.
Read the guideCondensation in a lamp
Moisture, vents, and why a calculator does not diagnose a housing.
Read the guideAftermarket lamps and US rules
Plain-English notes. This is not legal advice.
Read the guideWhat LED vs halogen actually changes
Power and heat from the numbers you can measure, not magic lumens.
Read the guideAbout this site
Auto Car Lighting Lab is a new educational site. It is not a revival of an older lighting shop, and it does not sell HID kits or list a storefront. Read the about page.
Common questions
Do the numbers I type leave this phone?
No. The last fields stay in this browser until you change them. A copied link only repeats those same fields. The pages do not upload a VIN or a reading.
Does the LED vs halogen tool claim that LED is brighter?
No. The comparison uses the watts you type, and lumens only if you type those too. The estimate does not invent a brightness multiplier.
Why is there no VIN lookup?
This site does not keep a bulb-fitment catalog. A VIN lookup would pretend to cover vehicles this project does not inventory.
Does a number here mean the lamp is DOT legal?
No. Aiming and wattage do not make a lamp street-legal. The estimate is not DOT or SAE certification.
Is the aim figure a shop aiming procedure?
No. The calculator uses trigonometry from your height, distance, and drop or angle. It is not a service procedure.
Which voltage does the current estimate use?
You choose the voltage. The default is 13.5 V, a typical running figure with the alternator online. You can set 12 V for a resting battery.
Is this a store?
No. There is no cart, no kit listing, and no shop address. The pages are educational estimates in the browser.
Can I use these figures as legal advice?
No. Check the vehicle manual and local law. The disclaimer on each calculator page states the same limit in full sentences.